Sony exec: Developers can block PS4’s Share button functions

Software can shun social screenshots and such to squelch "spoilers."

At the reveal event for the PlayStation 4 back in February, Sony highlighted how players would be able to share screens and videos from their games with friends using a convenient Share button on the PS4 controller. But it turns out that the PS4 game developers will be able to limit that sharing ability when it suits them.

In an interview with Japan's 4Gamer (which was translated by Edge), Sony Worldwide Studios President Shuhei Yoshida mentioned that the Share button can be disabled by developers that don't want certain parts of the game to be captured.

"There will be parts of a game that the maker does not want people to be able to see," Yoshida said. "For example, on Vita, developers can in certain scenes disable the feature that lets users take a screenshot, and [the Share function on PS4] will have a similar mechanism. The creator may not want to make video of the final boss shareable, for instance."

It's a bit of an odd limitation since there's nothing Sony can really do to limit the shareability of content on an already-released PS4 game. There will be nothing stopping PS4 players from taking a picture of any game moment or using video capture hardware and software to stream it directly to the Internet if they want. Yoshida himself notes that he had a minor addiction to Dark Souls videos available on Japanese sharing site NicoNico Douga, even though the PS3 doesn't have any way to easily share video.

Yes, disabling the Share button makes it a bit harder for a casual user to throw spoilers up on social networks, and it makes it less likely for a casual PS4 user to stumble on those spoilers when looking for other videos and screenshots through the system. Still, it seems unduly burdensome to completely disable sharing for certain game content. Sony could have instead taken a lead from Nintendo, which lets users and moderators hide Miiverse screenshots and messages behind a "Spolier" tag that has to be actively clicked through before it's seen.

More than likely, this limitation to the Share button is just a concession Sony made to neurotic developers who were nervous about the PS4 ruining the big twist at the end of their games. Someone should tell these developers that there's already a technology that makes it easy to effectively spoil every narrative ever created. It's called the Internet.

Why not just have a default spoiler cover image on any screen grabs taken at specific times, maybe one that cannot be disabled?

Why have the feature at all by this point?

I think Sony would have been better off never announcing this at all than having to deal with the outrage of players who want to use it anytime they want without being blocked out by devs trying to contain spoilers.

More than likely, this limitation to the Share button is just a concession Sony made to neurotic developers who were nervous about the PS4 ruining the big twist at the end of their games.

I doubt it. This is probably more of an issue for developers that want to license existing commercial audio and video.

It probably simplifies licensing negotiations for Call of Duty to use the Rolling Stone's Gimme Shelter in-game, for example, if they are not also enabling every user to digitally capture the song and upload it to the Internet.

More than likely, this limitation to the Share button is just a concession Sony made to neurotic developers who were nervous about the PS4 ruining the big twist at the end of their games.

I doubt it. This is probably more of an issue for developers that want to license existing commercial audio and video.

It probably simplifies licensing negotiations for Call of Duty to use the Rolling Stone's Gimme Shelter in-game, for example, if they are not also enabling every user to digitally capture the song and upload it to the Internet.

As a developer on a game that heavily uses licensed music I can confirm this is a concern with the Share button.

As someone said, this most likely has to so with TBDs in games. Also known as tits, butts, and dongs. Devs probably don't want an 8 year old, who is playing GTA 5, to capture digital genitalia and post to their facebook accounts.

True, there is a lot wrong with that sentence, but don't think that it doesn't/can't happen.

Seems like a waste of time since any external capture device is still going to work just fine no matter what the developers of a game want. I don't see this "feature" being used much by devs. It'll only piss off the huddled masses that are buying their games.

It's the internet. If you don't want a game spoiled you shouldn't be seeking out info on it in the first place.

The PS3 didn't lack ability to take screencaps in-game and send it to the XMB, it's just that for a vast, vast, vast majority of games it wasn't implemented. So, I dunno, I guess Sony expects the dedicated button to pressure devs to actually use it for something? It'd be a bummer if we were to see a whole bunch of games that decide to stonewall you out the feature entirely, just 'cos they can.

Seems like a waste of time since any external capture device is still going to work just fine no matter what the developers of a game want. I don't see this "feature" being used much by devs. It'll only piss off the huddled masses that are buying their games.

It's the internet. If you don't want a game spoiled you shouldn't be seeking out info on it in the first place.

This is going to be like DRM. It won't work against anybody who has a clue on what to do. If people want to break it (and frankly, I blame them for doing so), they will.

Not really an issue. If developers want to be jerks, this is just one more way to do so. But I'd be surprised if they did - why would they turn down free crowd-sourced advertising?

As somebody who spent more time this weekend than I meant to watching Let's Plays of a few games, though, I'm really hoping the video sharing is as easy and open as Sony's been saying it will be. If so, I think it'll be huge.

More than likely, this limitation to the Share button is just a concession Sony made to neurotic developers who were nervous about the PS4 ruining the big twist at the end of their games.

I doubt it. This is probably more of an issue for developers that want to license existing commercial audio and video.

It probably simplifies licensing negotiations for Call of Duty to use the Rolling Stone's Gimme Shelter in-game, for example, if they are not also enabling every user to digitally capture the song and upload it to the Internet.

Could you imagine the outcry if developers couldn't disable Share, then had the PS4 version of their game released without licensed music? Oh, boy.

Well, at least they didn't announce that in other portions of the game, the Share button would be a mandatory QTE.

Oh just you wait...

"In order to pass this QTE please tap share, then upload your photo to twitter with hastag #ThisGameRocksAndEveryOneShouldBuyIt. After tweet has been confirmed please return to the game to continue playing..."

"Spoiler" tags really won't work. What's to differentiate a mid-boss "spoiler" tag from a final boss "spoiler" tag, Technically, anything that is somewhat inside the story-line of the game is a SPOILER.

The word "spoiler" would lose all meaning.

I have no problem if its up to the developer and not some blanket ban of sharing. Really, the share button is a win-win for developers as it allows for free advertisements, I'm sure they're not stupid enough to disable it.

It's not like HDMI capture devices are particularly pricey these days.

You can't actually capture off HDMI on the PS3 without also breaking HDCP.

Uhhh? I've never had a problem capturing over HDMI on the PS3.

You're never had a technical problem. You do have a legal problem, though, if you've somehow managed to bypass HDCP.

Well if HDCP is enabled over HDMI from all sources on PS3 then it has been very poor implementation. I've been able to capture from game, dash, bluray and netflix since day 0. I've done no software or hardware modifications either - so I can hardly see how any circumvention was done.

Seems like a waste of time since any external capture device is still going to work just fine no matter what the developers of a game want. I don't see this "feature" being used much by devs. It'll only piss off the huddled masses that are buying their games.

It's the internet. If you don't want a game spoiled you shouldn't be seeking out info on it in the first place.

True, but there's a different level of dedication when comparing a dedicated button vs. setting up the hardware.

It's not like HDMI capture devices are particularly pricey these days.

You can't actually capture off HDMI on the PS3 without also breaking HDCP.

Uhhh? I've never had a problem capturing over HDMI on the PS3.

You're never had a technical problem. You do have a legal problem, though, if you've somehow managed to bypass HDCP.

Well if HDCP is enabled over HDMI from all sources on PS3 then it has been very poor implementation. I've been able to capture from game, dash, bluray and netflix since day 0. I've done no software or hardware modifications either - so I can hardly see how any circumvention was done.

Forcing people to find workarounds to the artificial limitations they put in place? Good thinking, cause that works 100%, all the time, without fail. That is usually the point where everyone sits back and thinks "they don't want me to do something, so I'm not going to do it".

Since it is up to individual developers to turn this on or off, I am guessing it would be more work to bother with this, so hopefully people don't bump into it too often. Cause it is going to get out their anyway, even if someone has to hold a camcorder to their screen. Sometimes I wonder what world people are living in.

Also, chasing down fans of your product and punishing them for posting their own game play footage is not a good way to do business. (duh!)

* Not that** Not that either*** It used to but not any more.**** We just felt like taking that feature away.! Just a fuck you because we know what you are thinking.$ Yup, we have your money, so we can take away any features we want.

Kyle Orland / Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in Pittsburgh, PA.